"She looks like she's waiting for someone. Could someone be coming to pick her up?" Irene guessed.
"That's possible... Oh no, if someone comes for her, we won't be able to follow!" Michelle suddenly realized after Irene's reminder and quickly took out her phone.
"Who are you calling?" Irene asked.
"I'm not calling anyone, I'm just booking an Uber in advance, just in case," Michelle replied as she opened the ride-hailing app.
A few minutes later, the car Michelle ordered arrived, but Clarice was still standing there, waiting.
The two quietly got into the car.
The driver was a young office worker. When he saw that his passengers were two high school girls, he smiled and asked, "Are you two young ladies going to 'Parison Park'?"
That was the random destination Michelle had set when she booked the car.
"Don't drive yet. Wait and see where she goes," Michelle said, pointing to Clarice in the distance.
Hearing this, the driver looked suspicious and said seriously, "What are you trying to do? Just so you know, I'm not going to be a part of anything illegal!"
"What are you talking about? She's our friend," Irene said, a little annoyed. "And look at us—we're wearing school uniforms. Who would dress like that to do something illegal?"
The driver thought for a second and realized that it made sense, but he still hesitated and asked, "If she's your friend, why don't you go talk to her directly? Why are you following her?"
Michelle didn't want to say much, but from the look on the driver's face, it was clear he wasn't going to cooperate unless she explained.
So she said, "She's been acting strange lately. We think someone might be threatening her, and she's too afraid to tell us..."
"So we want to follow her and see what's really going on. If it's nothing, we'll just leave. But if something is wrong, we'll try to help."
Only then did the driver relax. "All right, I'll wait with you."
Just then, a gray van slowly stopped in front of Clarice.
The side door opened from the inside, and Clarice quickly jumped in. After the door closed behind her, the van began to move.
"Are you sure she's being threatened?" The driver looked at Michelle and Irene, a little doubtfully.
"If we were sure, we'd call the police. Why follow her if we already know? Hurry up before we lose her!" Irene said sharply.
The driver was still a little suspicious, but he stepped on the gas and followed.
Up front, Clarice, now in the van, was chatting happily with a girl with long dark green hair sitting next to her.
The driver was a strong looking young man with short hair. In the passenger seat was a woman with long, wine-red hair who looked to be about his age.
"Lorna, hold on. My eyes feel weird. Let me take out my contacts first…" Clarice said suddenly in the middle of the conversation.
"Do you want me to stop for a while?" the short-haired young man asked, looking back.
"Thanks, John, but I'm fine." Clarice skillfully removed her contacts, revealing a pair of eyes as green as emeralds, and placed the lenses into a small case.
John was the name of the short-haired man driving the van.
Full name: John Proudstar, code name: Thunderbird. He's a mutant with super senses, super speed and super strength.
The woman in the passenger seat is his girlfriend, Sonya Simonson, codename "Dreamer". She's a mutant who can alter people's memories.
The girl with long dark green hair sitting next to Clarice is Lorna Dane, codename "Polaris". Her powers are almost identical to those of mutant underworld boss Magneto.
But right now, her powers aren't fully developed, so she's nowhere near his level.
The reason for this is simple—she's actually Magneto's biological daughter!
Of course, she's not as famous as her two half-siblings, but she perfectly inherited Magneto's powers, basically making her Magneto 2.0.
If Raymond were here, he'd probably feel proud for guessing right.
That's because both John and Lorna would go on to become leaders of the underground mutant group. Besides them, there was also a mutant named Marcos, codename "Eclipse."
But judging by Lorna's current age, she probably just joined this failing group and isn't a leader yet. Marcos may not even have been recruited yet.
Just as Clarice was about to start chatting again with Lorna after taking out her contact lenses, John suddenly spoke from the driver's seat.
Before they could ask what was going on, the van suddenly swerved sharply to the right under John's control!
"What's happening, John?" Lorna asked from the back seat, a little shaken.
"When I looked back just now, I noticed a car following us from a distance. I just wanted to check it out," John replied as he checked the rearview mirror.
"It's still following us," John said.
"Want me to take care of it?" Lorna asked.
"No. If you act, it'll make too much noise. Then the people from Special Operations—those bloodhounds—will track us down fast," John shook his head.
"So what do we do now?" Clarice asked nervously.
"Let me confirm first if they're really following us. If they are, we'll stop somewhere and check who they are…" John said, thinking it over.
Then he turned to Clarice and asked, "Is your power stable lately?"
Clarice nodded quickly. "As long as I stay calm, I should be fine."
John kept asking, "If—just if—we stop and it turns out to be Special Ops following us, how far do you think your powers can get us?"
Clarice thought for a moment and said softly, "I've never tried moving a large group, but with a few short jumps, we could probably get about ten kilometers away…"
"That's good enough."
John quickly came up with a plan.